Notes

"He was colonel in the Continental Army. His will was proved in
Spotsylvania County October 1, 1781. DEED BOOK G 1766-1771,
page 259: Whereas, John Smith, Gent., of Gloucester Co., in his
lifetime being seized of a certain tract of land containing 3333
a. (whereon sd. Wm. Daingerfield and Mary, his wife, now live)
and being so seized did by his last will and testament, Dated,
May 10, 1735, by a residuary clause did devise as follows,

"Item, I give and bequeath unto my grandmother, Anna Alexander,
all my other lands not bequeathed, negroes, money and stocks of
what kind soever during her natural life and after her decease
to my brother, Henry Willis, and his heirs, but in case he
should die without heir, then my will and desire is that my
brother, John Willis, enjoy the whole gift of the sd. Anna
Alexander, to him and his heirs or assigns, forever," as by will
recorded in Gloucester Co. Whereas, soon after making the sd.
will the sd. John Smith departed this life and the afsd. tract
being comprehended in the devise aforesaid and not before by the
sd. will specifically or particularly devised, the sd. Anna
Alexander possessed and enjoyed the same during her life and
after her death the sd. Henry Willis, by virtue of the devise to
him entered into the sd. tract, and whereas the sd. Henry Willis
having departed this life without leaving or having heir or
heirs of his body, etc., and the sd John Willis, to whom this
estate was left (in case of failure of heirs in the sd. Henry
Willis, Decd.) having died without disposing of the sd. Estate,
the sd. Estate has descended to the sd. Mary Willis, now Mary
Daingerfield, daughter and heiress in fee simple of the sd. John
Willis. The sd. Wm. Daingerfield and Mary, his wife, deed the
sd. tract of 3333 a. to sd. Larkin Chew, Jr., in trust for the
benefit of the sd. Wm. and Mary, during their natural lives and
then to their right heirs, etc. Witnesses, O. Towles, Jr.,
Walter Chiles, John Crittenden Webb. Decr. 7, 1767."
HENRY WILLIS, Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania Co., VA
1804 Dangerfield vs Yates
Plaintiff: Mary Dainerfield
Defendant: Charles Yates
Remarks: Deed - William Daingerfield to Alexander Spotswood
1779; Town lot 4-4; town lot 3-3; town lot 55; Will of Henry
Willis - General Court - 1740

Notes

CONFLICT: according to The Parson Rose Diary, Thomas
Higginbotham left Amherst Co. VA in 1751 and moved directly to
Augusta, Georgia where he died in 1774. In Augusta, GA there
are official records on his family dating back to 1759. At his
death he still held title to land in Amherst Co. VA, as recorded
in land record 10 Jun 1775, in which his nephew James
Higginbotham acted as his power of attorney.
***
Thomas Higginbotham of Georgia. Thomas Higginbotham, was born
about 1705, in Ireland. He died before July 5 1774, in Richmond
County, Ga. Thomas, and brothers, John and Joseph Higginbotham,
immigrated about 1730, to Virginia. A record states, that
Joseph, died 1n 1741. John and Thomas Higginbotham, first
purchased lands, that had been lands patented to George Braxton,
Sr. Thomas, also had a three letter patent for his other lands
in Amherst County, Va. Land records in Virginia, show that
Thomas, sold in 1751, to Robert Rose, the three letter patent
lands, after his second marriage to Judith Burris, and moving to
Georgia.

In Georgia, he obtained more land, and Judith, his wife had
grants in her own right, after Thomas died, before July 5 1774,
in Richmond Georgia. His son, Joseph Higginbotham, made a deed,
that was recorded in Elbert County, Ga. This deed was made to
Charles Crawford, and was not to be recorded till after his
mother's death. Joseph, mentions in this will, that his land
bordered the land of the Heir of Thomas Higginbotham, his
father, by a first marriage. The year date of this deed was
1786, recorded in 1805.

On July 10 1775, the land that Thomas Higginbotham, still
possessed in Amherst County, Va, was sold by Carter Braxton, to
Samuel Allen, of Amherst County. This was done by permission of
the "Heir" of Thomas Higginbotham, by a Power-of-Attorney" to
James Higginbotham of Amherst County, for a debt that was due
from his father, to Carter Braxton.
**********
The original family tree was researched and compiled by my
grandfather, Beverly Morris Higginbotham beginning in 1914 and
completed in 1961.

"In the compilation of this family tree, no attempt has been
made to go back further than the first immigrants to Virginia
from Ireland about 1735 and no attempt is made to explain the
derivation of the name or list the many variations of the
spelling. When members of the Higginbotham Clan assembled in
Amherst County, Virginia during the 1890's, an observing lad by
the name of Beverly being present, the tradition that the first
settlers of the name "were three brothers one of whom died soon
after arrival" was always expressed and that they homesteaded on
Rutledge Creek near Amherst Court House. No one knew the names
of these brothers.

Some genealogists whose work has been consulted state that
Thomas Higginbotham was the youngest son of John Higginbotham.
This compilation does not agree with that assumption. Three
grants of land on the waters of Piney River in Albemarle, now
Amherst, County, Virginia were issued to Thomas Higginbotham
between 1748 and 1750. This land was sold by Thomas in 1751 when
he moved to Georgia. In 1759 in Georgia he applied for a patent
stating that he had nine children. Again in 1766 he applied for
another patent at which time he had ten children. If Thomas had
been the youngest son of John he would have been born after
Benjamin who was born in Virginia about 1735 or thereafter which
would have made Thomas too young to obtain grants in 1748
to1750. With nine children in 1759 in Georgia by reasonable
accounting he must have been married about 1740 or earlier and
been born about 1715 or earlier.

John came to Virginia about 1735 and contracted for land on
Rutledge Creek (2,430 acres). He died prior to 1745 and the
land he had contracted for was conveyed to his oldest, Moses, in
April 1745. Moses partitioned this land in 1751 among his
brothers and sister probably after the death of his mother,
Frances Riley, who was not mentioned in this partition as
receiving any dower.

Thomas was not a party to this partitioning in 1751, therefore
he was not a son of John. None of John's children received
grants in their own right before 1751. After exhaustive search
of the records, the above facts have been established and go to
prove that Thomas was not a son of John. This indicates that
John and Thomas may have been brothers thus sustantiating the
tradition above mentioned. They were probably the two surviving
brothers of the three who were immigrants.

I have Higginbotham, Keene, Braddock, Haddock, Tanner,Crippen,
Sikes, Bradley and many more in my line. Would love to here more
from you. Margie

Thomas came from old Goochland Co., VA, where he was an
Episcopalian. He moved to Georgia and became a Baptist. He is
listed as a land owner in St. Paul's Parish, GA. In 1777, it
became Richmond County.

Thomas Higginbotham, son of John and Frances Riley Higginbotham,
was living in Albermarle Co., VA in 1751 when on June the 3rd of
that year, he conveyed by deed to Robert Rose, also of
Albermarle, for a consideration of 45 pounds three messages or
tenements granted to the said Thomas Higginbotham by three
letters patent viz; one for 200 acres of land lying on Piney
River dated July 12, 1750, all being now in the possession of
the said Robert Rose. Witnesses, John Walker, Robert Green,
Patriel Morrison, Deed Book 1, page 378.

No further record of him is found in Albermarle. He probably
received his share of his father's estate in money and removed
to Georgia where in February 1759, he addressed a petition to
the Governor and Council that "he had settled in the Province
and had no lands granted him therein and was desirous of
obtaining a grant for cultivation as he had a wife and nine
children", and praying for a grant of 100 acres on a branch
running into the Savannah River about five miles above Agusta
and three miles back from said river". His petition was
favorably acted upon and subsequently he was allowed additional
grant of 150 and 200 acres. In June 1766, he stated that he had
a wife and ten children and on April 3, 1770, he referred to the
fact that he was possessed of four Negroes. Thomas and Isabella
were the roots of all the Higginbotham families in Nassau County
and probably in Florida.
Ref: Col. Va. Records, searched by H. B. Hodges, 1975; Col.
Records of GA pg. 536

Notes

"The family suffered severe economic hardship with the failure
of the Morgan businesses in Huntsville in the 1820's. As a
consequence, in 1827 Alexander moved with his family to
Lexington, Kentucky, where he lived on one of his
father-in-law's farms which he renamed "Morgansa".

In 1831 Alexander Gibson Morgan was appointed Postmaster in
Leavenworth, Kansas, where his wife joined him in 1834 after
leaving little Susannah with her natural mother. Their single
son Alexander Gibson Morgan II had been born in Lexington on
April 2, 1832. A.G. Morgan Senior remained in Kansas until 1837,
when he joined the U.S. Army and commanded a battalion of
Missouri volunteers called "Morgan's Spies" during the Seminole
War with the rank of Colonel. After the war he moved back to
Lexington.

Alexander Gibson Morgan became a member of Co. K of the First
Kentucky Cavalry (part of Colonel Humphrey Marshall's regiment)
which was sent to the Mexican War, the same unit as his nephews
John Hunt and Calvin Cogswell Morgan; it is said that he refused
a commission to fulfill a promise he made to his twin brother to
protect young Calvin and John.

Alexander Gibson Morgan was killed in action at the Battle of
Buena vista on February 23, 1847 as a result of a lance through
his heart. His monument in the Lexington Cemetery reads: "He was
as generous as brave, as brave as he was true, he lived for his
friends and died for his country."

Morgan's widow, Ann America Higgins Morgan served as matron of
the East Kentucky Lunatic Asylum until her death on March 6,
1882."